Lattice parallelotopes and disjoint covering systems (Q1091414)

Denote \(a(M)=\{k\in\mathbb Z\), \(k\equiv a\pmod M\}\) and call it a residue set. Let \(\Delta =\{a_i(M_i)\), \(1\leq i\leq t\}\) be a system of residue sets. Define the covering function \(f_\Delta\) of \(\Delta\) as follows \(f_\Delta(k)=\{1\leq i\leq t,\;k\in a_i(M_i)\}\). If \(f_\Delta\equiv 1\) then \(\Delta\) is called a disjoint covering system (DCS). The present paper contains besides some new approaches in used methods the following two results: First a relation between maximal occurrence of a modulus in a DCS and the prime factors of moduli in the system is established, representing a generalization of some results by Burshtein. Further a lower bound for the occurrence of maximal moduli is given for all systems of residue sets whose covering functions are identically constant modulo some natural. The latter result forms a strong generalization of an assertion by Newman and the reviewer.